FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH's ANDY JAMES: 'I Do My Job, I Turn Up' And I'm Not 'An A**hole'

British musician Andy James, who joined FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH in 2020 as the replacement for the band's longtime guitarist Jason Hook, spoke about how he landed the gig during a recent chat with Andertons Music Co. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "A couple of years prior to this happening, I was down the pub with my mate once, and we were talking about, like, if you had your pick of any band that you could see yourself being in, what band would it be? And, obviously, there's all the big bands, like METALLICA and MEGADETH and all that, and, obviously, they've all got… Well, METALLICA have definitely got their established lineup, and it would be weird anybody coming in at this point. MEGADETH has kind of had a revolving door of guitar players, but I think you need a certain look for that, which I don't really fit into. I mean, you've gotta have hair for a start, which I don't. And then, yeah, I was thinking about it, and I'm, like, 'Actually, you know what? One of the only bands I think that I'd be able to fit into at that level would be FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH.' I mean, I was already a fan of the band anyway. I really liked Jason's playing, his stuff. So it was a conversation down the pub one night, and then it sort of happened, which is really weird."

He continued: "I think it was around 2017, something like that, I did a U.S. tour with [American guitarist, songwriter and producer] Angel Vivaldi. I wasn't gonna do that tour, because there's not a lot of money in the instrumental game, so you've gotta do everything on a budget. And me being English, I didn't wanna then bring a band with me and all the rest of it and then it's just more people you've gotta accommodate on the road sort of thing. So he offered me the tour. We did Europe and that was fine, 'cause I had a band for that. And then it was, like, 'Well, we're gonna take this over to America as well. Do you wanna come and do that?' And I'm, like, 'Well, how's this gonna work?' And he's, like, 'Well, there isn't really a lot of money to do it. But if you were willing to come over and do it to, say, backing tracks and stuff, we could do it.' And initially my ego was probably knocking on the door thinking, 'Are you sure you really wanna do this sort of thing?' I mean, I'm not really driven like that anyway. I thought, 'You know what? I've never played America before. Backing tracks. Fuck it. I'll go and do it.' So I said yes. And so I went over. And then Charlie [Engen], who's now the drummer for FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH, he was playing for Angel Vivaldi and SCALE THE SUMMIT on that tour, and so we met and we became good friends and stuff. And that's it, really."

James added: I've been in lots of bands with singers and stuff, failed or otherwise, but I've always kept doing the instrumental stuff on social media and stuff like that. And I think Zoltan [Bathory, FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH guitarist] had seen a bunch of my videos and was kind of into the stuff that I was doing. And then I think Charlie and Zo were hanging out at his house one day and they were just going through Instagram videos and stuff like that and I think he turned around and said to Charlie, he was, like, 'Oh, do you know this guy?' He's, like, 'Yeah, we toured together. We're good friends.' He was, like, 'Oh, really?' He was, like, 'Yeah, actually, FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH is one of his favorite bands.' And [Zoltan] was kind of surprised because he didn't think that somebody with my musical background with the type of music that I play and stuff would be interested in a band like that. But I listen to a lot of that kind of radio rock stuff, like DISTURBED and AVENGED SEVENFOLD and all that as well. So it wasn't weird for me to be listening to that style of music as well as the more technical, progressive stuff. And anyway, I guess maybe in his mind he thought, 'Hmm, okay, that might be something.' But anyway, I think that's kind of a lot of the reason why someone from England got a gig in an American band."

James went on to say that his guest appearance on the BUTCHER BABIES song "Bottom Of A Bottle" "was kind of like a bit of a long-winded job interview, because we went in the studio, we hung out, then we went for dinner, so I guess [Zoltan, who was helping BUTCHER BABIES at the time] could see what I was like in that sort of environment as well as just on a personal level and maybe just made up his mind that if anything was ever gonna happen within the band and they needed to switch out guitar players, then I'd be someone he'd call."

Andy also emphasized the importance of having a positive working relationship with the other members of FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH, saying: "Obviously, there's a lot of moving parts to the way this thing operates. So, it's better when you've got people that get along than having constant battles all the time. And I do my job, I turn up, don't be an arsehole, and that's it, really."

James began playing guitar at the age of 12. He is known to fans for his critically acclaimed solo records and his previous tenure with FIELDS OF THE NEPHILIM, among others. He joined FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH during the band's 2020 European arena tour and appears on their latest album titled "AfterLife".

James made his recording debut with FIVE FINGER on the song "Broken World", which was featured on the second installment of the band's greatest-hits collection, "A Decade Of Destruction - Volume 2".